


Passing By

by nevermindthecrumbs



Category: Actor RPF, American Actor RPF, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) RPF, Post-Classical Hollywood RPF
Genre: Behind the Scenes, M/M, On Set
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:31:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9624227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevermindthecrumbs/pseuds/nevermindthecrumbs
Summary: Robert reminisces.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deepdarkwaters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deepdarkwaters/gifts).



When Robert reflects upon it, even decades later, when far too many of the people who were there to witness it all, too, are dead and gone, he's not exaggerating when he describes the entire experience as a once-in-a-lifetime joy.

 

And it was all so unexpected, which makes it all the sweeter. 

 

After all, he wasn't at all sure what to expect, making this gigantic film with so much money riding on it, with one of the biggest stars in the world.

 

Paul Newman. Gorgeous and smart and funny. Insecure and shy and clumsy. A mass of contradictions.

 

Paul, giggling as he falls on the floor of his hotel room in Mexico, taking Robert with him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to trip you,” he'd whispered, his breath hot on Robert’s face. “I never have any balance when I’m drunk.”

 

“I didn’t think you had any sober.” Robert had replied, and Paul had laughed madly.

 

“I don’t!” Paul exclaimed, and Robert started laughing, too.

 

Robert still can’t explain how it happened – maybe it was the heat or the fatigue from working all day and half the night or the alcohol or…or something else entirely – but when Paul had leaned forward and kissed him he didn't stop him, only tangled his fingers in Paul’s curls and pulled him closer.

 

They both had wives and kids and families and the tabloids followed Paul like a pack of vultures. This could destroy them both, everything they'd worked for.

 

But the last thing Robert had wanted to do was stop.

 

When Robert woke up the next morning, the feeling of a body in his arms that was covered in hard muscle rather than soft curves was phenomenally disconcerting, as was the strange feeling of light prickliness against his neck as someone sleepily kissed him. “Paul?” he whispered.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“It’s Robert.”

 

Paul had just laughed. “I know that.”

 

“Oh. Okay. Just, uh…checking…”

 

Paul was still laughing. “What, that I didn’t think you were someone else?”

 

Robert had gone a very bright shade of red, but laughed anyway. "I thought you may have thought you were back home."

 

“Nah, Joanne’s hairier than you,” Paul offered, and they both fell into a fit of giggles.

 

They'd always laughed together. A lot. And they never spoke about it. Not directly, at least.

 

But they never denied it, either.

 

Somehow, it made it all easier.

 

And, decades later, Robert wouldn't have changed it for the whole world.

 


End file.
